Obasanjo hoped to get Mugabe to settle March 2004

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo hoped to see a reconciliation agreement in Zimbabwe By March 2004 which would include President Robert Mugabe’s agreement to step down.

This was disclosed by Nigerian Foreign Affairs official Ebenezer Olusaumokun after a meeting between Mugabe and Obasanjo in Geneva in December 2003.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 03ABUJA2204, NIGERIA: MFA COMMENTS ON ZIMBABWE, DISCUSSION OF

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 002204

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2013

TAGS: PREL ZI NI LY IZ

SUBJECT: NIGERIA: MFA COMMENTS ON ZIMBABWE, DISCUSSION OF

LIBYA AND IRAQ

REF: A. STATE 345870

¶B. STATE 345785

CLASSIFIED BY COUNSELOR JAMES MAXSTADT FOR REASONS 1.5 B AND

¶D.

¶1. (C) MFA Regions Director (a mid-point between Nigeria’s P

and regional A/S equivalents) Olusaumokun told PolCouns

December 23 that President Obasanjo was very satisfied after

his Geneva meeting with Zimbabwean President Mugabe earlier

in December. Obasanjo intends to send Nigerian FM Adeniji to

Harare in January, according to Olusaumokun, and hopes to see

a reconciliation agreement in Zimbabwe by March to include

Mugabe’s agreement to step down.

¶2. (C) Olusaumokun noted that Obasanjo’s Geneva meeting and

RSA President Mbeki’s more recent trip to Harare were a bit

of an exchange of roles. Obasanjo strongly favors

reconciliation between the government and opposition, and

normally meets with both toward that end — though it was not

possible to do so in Geneva. Mbeki, Olusaumokun thought,

usually concentrated on Mugabe, instead of the government and

the MDC both, and Mbeki’s engaging the opposition was a

welcome departure in Nigeria’s view. Interestingly,

Olusaumokun knew of Mugabe’s promise of serious talks with

the MDC in January, but did not mention it among the reasons

he said Obasanjo believed a reconciliation agreement was

possible by March.

————–

IRAQ AND LIBYA

————–

¶3. (C) PolCouns took the opportunity to go over the reftels’

information on Saddam’s arrest and U.S. Reaction to Libya’s

WMD admission. Olusaumokun expressed appreciation that Libya

seemed to be moving forward on many fronts to change its

position, and he hoped that Libya would take a more

cooperative approach within Africa as well. On Iraq,

Olusaumokun said he had no substantive MFA reaction.

Roberts

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